newly qualified in uk - want to work in sydney

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jul 26, 2006

Hi!
I am a student nurse due to qualify in April 2007. As there appear to be no jobs in the UK for me I am hoping to go and work in Sydney. I have heard different things about how much experience you need to work as a nurse in Australia - does anyone know if you can get a job with no prior work experience? Also, is it possible to get a job directly with a hospital without going through an agency?
Thanks
Bonzer

have a look in the australia forum, the answer may be there and you could always as in there this question

and welcome :groupwelcome:

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Jul 27, 2006

Hi!
I am a student nurse due to qualify in April 2007. As there appear to be no jobs in the UK for me I am hoping to go and work in Sydney. I have heard different things about how much experience you need to work as a nurse in Australia - does anyone know if you can get a job with no prior work experience? Also, is it possible to get a job directly with a hospital without going through an agency?
Thanks
Bonzer

How sad it is to hear that this is happenening especially as we know that we need nurses in the UK. You know when I first qualified in the early 90's there was no nursing jobs then either and things were hard for nurses for a few years, but it did settle and you must just be patient. It took me 3 months to get a perm job and I worked bank until that time. Unfortunatly there is no such thing as the Bank nowerdays-another sad loss, because it worked so well. I wish you all the luck and I hope things will turn around

english_nurse · Jul 28, 2006

my hospital re-instated the nursing bank about 5 years ago after having an agency run all the shifts at a great cost financially to them

it works quite well most of the time but sometimes it cant always fill shifts if management allows the shifts then go out to agency.

its been quite useful while the recruitment freeze has been on as we have had regular staff working on the ward but for the bank, use of it has still been restricted as much as possible to save money.

have pmd you with a useful site address which has alot of english nurses on it who are going to new zealand or aus

my friend has just moved to newzealand as a speech therapist and loves it, some places will take you from newly qualified but i wouldnt recommend it unless you have no choice

compared to getting to the usa the immigration side is much easier the similarity being that you need someone to sponsor you, look in the back of nursing times, there are agencies and hospitals who will sponsor you, you may find that doing it alone is a better option as you will have more freedom about where you can work.

good luck:)

madwife2002, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2006

On the south coast we were forced to use NHS Professionals which replaced the bank-devious methods were used to persuade the Agency nurses to join NHS professionals, and there was a ban on Agency nurses, except in places like A&E, CCU and HDU. NHS professionals and I was there at the begining was a nightmare, we were supposed not to call regular staff but allow them NHSP to do it-they never did. Overtime was stopped and staff had to join NHSP or they would have to have time owing-most staff did overtime for the money. So staff stopped doing overtime. You never got your time back. We had to cut back on staffing numbers to dangerous levels. The general public are not aware of what is happening I recieved an email from the Director of the trust yesterday which said we now have to cut back a further 7.,5 million, from where I ask myself.

english_nurse · Jul 28, 2006

this is very similar to what happened at my trust

we used to have the BNA which was agency who everyone in the hospital did their extra hours with, they sacked the BNA and made everyone join the nursing bank, at first it was rockey but eventually everyone got used to it

if you do extra hours on your own ward you get overtime over 37 1/2 hours if you do them on another ward you need to do then through the bank and get d grade pay no overtime

i did see in the papers on tuesday that the government is going to write off the nhs debt, lets hope so

i agree about the dangerous staffing levels, its very scarey

RGN1 · Jul 28, 2006

Check out the ads in the Nursing Times. However, I'm afraid most want at least 1-2 years experience :-(

jimwng4 · Aug 1, 2006

I think most agencies and hospitals in Oz want you to have some post qualification experience under your belt- when I was in Sydney they in 2005 they were asking for 1+ years experience. There are slight differnces in ebing a nurse in Australia than from the UK and i would say you really do need to find your feet as a qualified nurse for at least a year in this country and I would say that it would make it easier for you to make the transition of working in another country. Even if its a crappy job you dont particulalry want to etch a career out in at least its giving you experience and it is made bearable if you have applied for an Australian work visa and know that there is escape at the end!!

veritas · Oct 2, 2007

the NHS is a mess! yet they keep advertising in Oz for nurses to go over to UK! promising the world to the aussie nurses if they go over to UK... while UK nurses r fleeing UK! strange world

have you tried ireland? seems like there's a need there... a lot of advertisements asking for nurses to go to ireland... it'll be easier for u to go to ireland than come to oz i think.. esp if u have no experience.

you can try applying to "transition" or "graduate" programs in oz. but in oz, graduate places are limited as they have to be paid for by the government, and are usually given to 1)local students from the particular state, 2) then interstate students, 3) then international people. internationals will always get picked last coz the domestic people have to be covered first. also visa application takes ages, requires sponsorship and costs money and a lot of paperwork.

transition and graduate programs are free as the costs are covered by government in the public hospitals and investors in the private hospitals.

be prepared to wait for a long time for the approval to come through. you have to apply to the state nursing board for approval before you can apply for any program or job in the country. this can take many many months. and if you change states, you will need to apply to the new state you change to. it is true. i know people who after 8 months are still waiting on approval. each state has a different nursing board. and different ways to apply for the programs. and different number of places available. you won't be guaranteed a place. i think there's on average at least 2 to 6 on-shore people applying for each available graduate position.

consider this: if u apply for the graduate or transition program, the place employing you has to shell out more money coz training, etc involves costs. but if you go straight into a position without being in any program, you are paid the salary and benefits and that's the end of it. to train a transition or graduate costs about $80,000 or more for each person. so there is a limit of positions available. the normal salary without training costs the hospital only about $50,000 a person. expensive thing training.

you can still apply for jobs without experience. as long as your degree is accredited and approved by the relevant nursing boards. the problem is this takes ages. so betweeen approval and getting the job, you'll probably have months to spare. what will you do then? you would not be able to work in Oz without approval. but i guess you might be able to work as auxiliary or domiciliary nurse. that's what most people do while waiting for approval. problem is how will you apply for immigration visa?

if you apply to the particular hospital you want to work for and they are willing to sponsor you for the visa, then they'll probably let you apply to work there as auxiliary nurse while your accredition is being approved.

usually if you do a program in one place, they want you to stay there for a few years after. coz they invested in you. if you leave they have to train someone else. esp in private hospitals. it's a waste of money to them if you leave with the skills they gave you. but in public systems, you might be able to change between facilities as they are under the same umbrella, so to speak.

i wouldn't necessarily say private or public is better. the standard is pretty much the same. the thing is private hospitals are usually not as large as public hospitals, so you don't get as much general exposure to differnt types of trauma or diseases. plus large hospitals are usually teaching hospitals so there's more diversity in cases and programs. private hospitals are more personal. everyone knows everyone. public hospitals being such huge places and staff being more or less "civil servants" are not as "intimate" as private hospital staff. i wouldn't necessarily say public has more support either. i find private hospitals to be just as supportive. preferably you'll join the nursing union to cover your ass whether you're in public or private. there are some really exceptional private hospitals around. and some good public ones too. each facility is different. and there's different personalities and cultures as well.

as a new grad without experience, if you get approved and accepted to work in oz, you'll most likely be on the med-surg general floor or mental or rehab wards. no ER, OR or ICU places. coz all the ICU, OR and ER places are even more expensive to train due to being specialties, and these places are usually given to domestic people...

hope this all helps!

:monkeydance:

ayla2004, ASN, RN · Oct 2, 2007

Hi!
I am a student nurse due to qualify in April 2007. As there appear to be no jobs in the UK for me I am hoping to go and work in Sydney. I have heard different things about how much experience you need to work as a nurse in Australia - does anyone know if you can get a job with no prior work experience? Also, is it possible to get a job directly with a hospital without going through an agency?
Thanks
Bonzer

i'll qualify in september. iv'e a mate who qualifies in januray who is marrying a kiwi in july and intends moving to new zealand she has been told by a agency a minium 6 months post-reg experince and that it will take that long to get everything processed.

i saw an ad for a queensland hospical last year accepting new qual no experice uk nurses